Yesterday evening I witnessed a unique performance by special Children at the School Function. These lovely children went about the performance with absolute gusto and were all smiles even as everyone in the Audience shed tears of appreciation for their courageous performance. The beauty of this performance was the connection the children had with their Choreographer.Their eyes were all focussed on him and they complimented all his moves.Amazing...

     

Today's world thrives on connections. This is the era of Blackberry,Androids and I Phones and Whats App et al.The matrix of Connectivity is huge and offers tremendous potential. As a Child, I used to keenly observe the Postman.He used to visit our house each day and was offered a Glass of Water even if there was no letter. My Grandmother (till she was alive) would make read each letter aloud as she had turned blind by early 1970s. Each letter was suitably replied.My mother would utilise each and every corner of an Inland/Postcard in her write-ups. The eleaboration of events of the past was given in minutest detail and the details surely used to come alive in front of the reader.

       

Since letter reading and writing had been imbibed from a young age,so I was not surprised when my Mother affextionately kept 50 Inlands and Postcards in my NDA Trunk. These tools really came handy in my First Term when I was put under a severe grind to shed my Civvy bearing. I used to find time in between classes and weekends and kept in close touch with all my relatives,friends and girls too. My.writings were equally reciprocated and I used to receive a decent number of letters each week. My mother's volumes kept me abreast with all the family melodramas and I could stitch the events alive as I read the letters by changing the position as per the lines written.

     

In my 2nd 6th Term in NDA,I struck conversation with a lovely girl and was on my knees within a week to propose to her. The great skill.of writing letters came very handy as I kept myself alive in front of her despite a long distance relationship. The letters could take 2-3 weeks to.reach Manipur from my Station Lonavala but the number of letters kept the stream flowing. At times,I wrote 2-8 Letters per day!!

     

As technology grew,most of my letter contacts came on email service.We maintained our connections.Technology leap frogged to Gmail Messenger and FB and we too kept migrating. A green dot on Gmail Messenger indicated the presence of the contact. A ping and we were on.

        

One day,I received the news of a young Offr who had gone missing from his place of duty.He was lost at sea. I kept my prayer to not to believe that he was a young Fox.He had dreams and energy. The ship returned to harbor and I kept waiting for the grey dot to turn green. It never happened and my worst fear came true as I lost connect with the fine young Offr whose voice and write-ups cheered many he knew.

       

The world is indeed a punch away from any sort of connected keyboard. This write up has originated from a hand held phone even as the heat of the battery is numbing my palm. Stay connected is the buzz word. The dot must remain green and Whats App status must be Online is my sincere wish for you all.